HATCHET

Our new book, Hatchet,  is full of intensity.
We learned a bit about the author and his past, and recognized that sometimes our real-life experiences make for a fantastic plot for writing stories.
Since the character in the book finds himself having to pilot an airplane, we logged onto a flight simulator (with Google Earth) and took turns flying over the cities.  It is A LOT more difficult than we expected.  None our of classroom pilots were able to land safely and made for some comical moments.

Continue reading the book, up to at least chapter 14, and come to class ready to discuss porcupine pricks, bear attacks, skunk sprays and starting a fire with flint and steel.

Number the Stars

This past week, we began our discussion of our new book, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
To set the scene of our story, we looked at a map of Denmark and noted how it shared a border with Germany and how close it is to Sweden.  We also learned a bit more about King Christian X of Denmark and the tough choices he had to make during the German occupation.
We saw illustrations of a Nazi soldier's uniform and agreed that it would be intimidating to see in our own neighborhood.  We also reminded ourselves about Adolf Hitler and his crazy ideas about the Master Race and why Jewish families were being relocated.  We all agreed that we would NOT want to have be separated from our families and go live with our friends' family, but that we understood that it was for our own protection from the German soldiers.

(Concentration Camps and Jewish extermination horrors were not discussed- I will leave that discussion up to the families)

Charles Wallace and Mrs Whatsit

What an intriguing beginning to our new adventure, A Wrinkle In Time.
This week we discussed the characters in our story.  A lot of us could relate to Meg Murry the way she thinks she is not smart, even though she is a genius.   She believes that she is plain-looking when it is so obvious to others just how attractive she is.

We defined what INTUITION is, and challenged ourselves to trust our gut more often.

We sipped on Charles Wallace's hot chocolate while we discussed the character, Mrs. Whatsit.
(ask your student what the difference is between hot cocoa and hot chocolate)

Jael was our first volunteer to be transformed into the character, Mrs. Whatsit.  We dressed her in a shawl, and eight scarves. Then topped the tramp with a man's wool fedora!  What fun it was to re-create the scene when Mrs. Whatsit showed up to Meg's house that dark and stormy night.  Other characters joined into the scene, and the scarves and hat were recycled onto a new Mrs. Whatsit, and the scene was acted out over and again because it is such fun to pretend.

 This week, please read chapters five through eight.
We will continue our discussion of Meg and Mrs. Whatsit and TESSERACT travel.

Julie's big decision

This week, we finished up our discussion of our book, Julie of the Wolves.
Those students who read the ending to this book agreed that the ending was both climactic and disappointing.

Miyax chooses to migrate closer to the river, and builds herself an igloo made from hard, dry snow.
We watched a video of some Inuits showing us how to expertly build an igloo in 40 below weather.  Amazing!
Then, we built our own "igloos" using mini marshmallows.

What if you were Miyax's position?  Would you choose to continue your journey to San Francisco like you planned?   Would you choose to go live with your father?   Or would you choose to live with your adopted family of wolves out on the tundra?

Our next book is "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeline L'Engle.  Get started reading right away.  Students will need to have read up to chapter four by next week's discussion.

Part 2

Last week, we had a discussion about Part 2 of the book, Julie of the Wolves.
Part 2 describes Miyax's life before she ran away, before she learns to survive among the wolves.
We talked about her becoming a child bride, and suggested that maybe this was their native custom of "adopting" a new member into the family.  We agreed that if any of us were to be treated as disrespectfully as Daniel treated Miyax, then we have every right to leave the relationship immediately.

Our discussion then led to all of the things that Miyax learned from her father.  He taught her to hunt, to preserve food, to sew, to read and understand the nature around her.   What have WE learned from our fathers that serve us well today?

Since Miyax was very skilled at sewing caribou fur in to muklaks and mittens, we thought it might be a good survival skill for us to learn, also.  Each student was given a section of caribou fur to make an article of clothing with.  Most chose to make mittens, but I also saw furry ear muffs, and a furry bag, too.  Sewing fur is tricky!

Continue reading Part 3 of the book, and be ready to discuss on March 2nd.  
Ask yourself "What is the THEME of this book"?

Julie of the Wolves

We started out our discussion today by getting familiar with Miyax and her world.  We were able to find Barrow, Alaska on a map and visually tracked her long journey to San Francisco.  Seeing how close Alaska is to the North Pole helped us to understand her dilemma of "midnight sun" and lack of navigational stars in the summertime.

Jonny helped us to better understand the science behind a frost heave, and Corban and Benjamin offered some great ideas on ways we could build a sod house.

We learned more about the author, Jean Craighead George, and watched a video clip of her communicating with her dog, the same way Miyax learned to talk with the wolves.  We all agreed that Ms George's knowledge of nature helps us to believe the events in this story are realistic and true.

After practicing our own wolf howls, we finished our immersion by playing a game that Eskimo children play.  It is called Tingmiulang, and it uses tiny clay ducks that point their beaks at the winner.   I challenged the students to make their own set of tingmiulang ducks the next time they find riverside clay.

Next week, come prepared to continue our survival discussion having read up to Part 2 in the book.

Summer of the Monkeys

December's book is SUMMER of the MONKEYS.  Boy!  Are we enjoying this book!  I think this one is my favorite story so far.
The first week, we learned all about the author, Wilson Rawls and how he loved telling stories, and writing stories.  He grew up in a very rural home in the Ozark hills and since there wasn't a school nearby- he was home schooled by his mother.  She would read him books like Little Red Hen, and Little Red Riding Hood.  Wilson thought those were GIRL books, and had little to no interest in reading anything at all.  Until....his grandmother sent the book The Call of the Wild by Jack London.  That book became his most prized possession, and he carried it with him every where he went.  He decided at a young age that he was going to tell stories with DOGS in them.   Where the Red Fern Grows was his first published story.  Summer of the Monkeys came later, and we're so glad it did.

Last week, we used our creative minds to build some humane monkey traps.  We used things from my recycle bin, using apples as monkey bait - and I've got to say how impressed I am with the clever engineering they were able to come up with to catch monkeys of all sizes. 

This week- we will wrap up our discussion on the book while tasting a "huckleberry pie that could put muscles on a grapevine".
******** As an incentive - I'll award all readers who have read up to Chapter 15 ************
************with their own vintage Ozark Jay Berry pocket weapon. ***************
***Readers who finish the entire book will also be supplied ammunition to go with the weapon***